About the Authors Dr. A. B. Rema Shree obtained Ph. D. degree in Botany from University of Calicut, Kerala in 1995 with specialization in Plant Anatomy and Tissue culture. She started her carrier as a Researcher in Botany since 1989 and served as Research associate, Scientist, Senior Scientist in Centre for Medicinal Plants Research, Arya Vaidya Sala, Kottakkal. Now she is working as Deputy Project Director, and heading the Pharmacognosy and Drug Standardisation Division, CMIR. The Centre functions as an Institute for research, education, conservation and popularization of medicinal plants and handles many externally funded projects. She has published 63 research papers 26 abstracts, 32 monographs 13 technical reports and is a contributor to the Atlas of Pharmacognosy published by Dept of AYUSH. She has handled projects from KSCSTE, DBT. ICMR, NMPB, and Dept. of AYUSH. She is a recognized Ph.D guide to Kannur University and produced Ph.Ds. As an invited speaker in the International seminars she visited University of Malaysia and University of Mississippi, USA Received 4 awards form State Govt. for her scientific contributions in the Science Congress

Professor (Dr.) K. K. Vijayan is retired Professor of Chemistry (Natural Products). University of Calicut. He received his M Se Degree in Applied Chemistry with specialization in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from University of Kerala (Maharajas College), and Ph.D.from the University of Calicut. He started his carrier as a faculty in the Department of Pharmacology, Medical College, Calicut, then moved over to the Research Division of Regional Cancer Center, Thiruvanthapuram and in the Department of Pharmacology, Medical College. Thiruvanathapurm. He joined the University of Calicut as Reader in Chemistry(Natural Products) and retired as Professor.His main research interests are in the area of water soluble polysachharides, Coumarins, Flavonoids (isolation, structural elucidation, study of biological activity and synthesis). He is well experienced in HPLC, GCMS, and LCMS and has received advanced training in Mass Spectrometry.

Dr. Indira Balachandran started her career in 1982 as Research Officer, Arya Vaidya Sala Herb Garden, Kottakkal. Worked on the scientific identification of the plants used in Ayurveda and the controversies with regard to the plant sources of various drugs in the system. Took Ph. D from University of Calicut in 1990 under the guidance of late Dr. V.V. Sivarajan and the thesis is published by Oxford & IBH, Delhi in 1994 as a book titled 'Ayurvedic Drugs and Their Plant Sources. She has participated in many national and international conferences on medicinal plants and has published several papers. Won the JREIM gold medal for the best scientific paper presented in the First Asian Conference on Pharmaceutical education, research and drug industry held at Singapore in 1988. Received the Outstanding Young Person award of Kerala Jaycees in 1989. As per the invitation of the Faculty of Ayurveda, Hilversum, Netherlands, she gave a series of lectures in 1996. Served as Visiting Professor in Toyama Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Japan for six months during April-September 1999. Continued as Senior Scientist and In Charge of the Herb garden till 2000. Serves as Project Director, Centre for Medicinal Plants Research, Arya Vaidya Sala, Kottakkal since then.

Foreword This publication is the result of the research carried out during the last three years by Dr AB Rema Shree, Principal Investigator, and her colleagues Prof Dr K K Vijayan, Ms A Jayanthi, Ms T P Girija, Ms K Sereena, Ms K Dhanya, Ms K Praseetha Ms A Abani, Ms Sini, Ms Sree Devi and Mr CT Sulaiman. The work was financially supported by the National Medicinal Plant Board of Ayush and was carried out at the Centre for Medicinal Plant Research of Vaidyaratnam PS Varier's Arya Vaidya Sala, Kottakkal. The book is appropriately dedicated to Padmabhooshan Dr P K Warrier, Managing Trustee, AVS in recognition of his monumental contributions to the science and practice of ayurveda.

Preface This publication is the outcome of a project funded by National Medicinal Plants Board, New Delhi, on Developing pharmacognostic standards of important bark drugs used in Ayurveda. The project involves standardisation of 60 bark drugs/their substitutes/market adulterants. Twenty drugs out of sixty are covered in this first volume.

The past decade witnessed a worldwide acceptance of the traditional systems of medicine and also the scientific exploitation of medicinal plants. Considering the tremendous increase of worldwide interest in medicinal plants and their products in the recent past, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized the importance of Traditional Systems of Medicine (TSM) and the Folk-lore remedies, which mainly depend on plants for the treatment, cure, prophylaxis and modulation of immune response. India has a long history and most diverse cultural traditions associated with the use of herbal medicines and has developed a distinct system for using the bark. Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani are the three important traditional systems in practice in India which are being called Indigenous Systems of Medicine. Among them, Ayurveda is the oldest and widely popular practising system. The main raw materials used for these systems are plants and their derived products. The plant parts including roots, stems, barks, heartwoods, leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds and exudates constitute the major portion of the raw drugs used in these systems of medicine. The importance of standardisation of Ayurvedic medicines using modern methods, has attracted some attention only in recent times. But without establishing the proper standards for raw materials, it would be very difficult to evolve standards for the formulations.

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